More about: Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid Tickets and Tours
In 1990, what is now one of the most important museums in Spain was born. Picasso, Miró, Dalí, Juan Gris, Delaunay, Yves Klein and Francis Bacon are just some of the artists at the Reina Sofía.
Buying tickets in advance and online is the best option. It is not unusual to find a queue of visitors several metres long in front of the stairs of the museum. Here are the best ways to visit the museum:
Madrid Reina Sofia Museum Tickets
The Reina Sofía, at your own pace and skipping the queues
Perfect if you want to visit the Reina Sofia Museum at your own pace, without having to join a guided tour, but want to skip the queues at the ticket office.
It is not unusual to find a long queue at the doors of the museum formed by those who have not yet bought their tickets to see the permanent collection or temporary exhibitions and are waiting to go to the ticket office.
You can save yourself the wait by booking your tickets online for the Reina Sofía: all you have to do is choose the day you want to visit the museum. Once you book your tickets for the Reina Sofía online, you will receive a receipt by email to exchange for your ticket at the museum on the day of your visit.
Why I like this option: this is the cheapest option to visit the museum at your own pace.
Recommended if... you want to visit the museum on a shoestring budget.
Madrid Reina Sofia Museum Guided Tour
Tour the interior of the Reina Sofía Museum with an expert guide
If you want to discover the most interesting works of the Reina Sofía with a specialised guide, join this guided tour.
If you want to see the museum in an hour and a half without missing the main highlights of its collection, I recommend this guided tour that includes a skip-the-line ticket. The experience of visiting the museum with a guide will allow you to discover the works in a much more intimate and personal way and, of course, learn important lessons about contemporary art.
A guided visit to the Reina Sofía is worthwhile in any museum and certainly even more so in this one, since contemporary art has a cultural context behind it that is rich in nuances that are not perceived at first glance.
Why I like this option: visiting a museum with a specialised guide to help you contextualise everything you see seems essential to me, and the Reina Sofía Museum, with the amount of art it houses, could not be less.
Recommended if... you want to know what lies behind the essential works of the Reina Sofía with a specialised guide.
Madrid Prado Museum and Reina Sofia Museum Guided Tour
Visit the Prado and the Reina Sofía with an expert guide
The Museo del Prado and the Reina Sofía are two of Madrid's must-see museums, and getting to know them with an expert guide will help you get the most out of your visit.
The Reina Sofía and the Prado Museum are essential for all art lovers visiting Madrid. The Spanish art tour is not complete without one of these two museums as they both cover different periods.
On a joint guided tour of the Prado and Reina Sofia you can have access to both with an expert guide who will explain their main works.
If you have little time to visit these museums, this is a highly recommended option: the price is around AED 315 and tickets for both museums are included without queuing.
Why I like this option: with this very affordable pack you can visit the two most important museums with an expert guide.
Recommended if... you want to enjoy the art of these two museums in Madrid accompanied by a guide and save time and money, as it is cheaper than if you booked both visits separately.
The Reina Sofía, at your own pace and skipping the queues
Perfect if you want to visit the Reina Sofia Museum at your own pace, without having to join a guided tour, but want to skip the queues at the ticket office.
Tour the interior of the Reina Sofía Museum with an expert guide
If you want to discover the most interesting works of the Reina Sofía with a specialised guide, join this guided tour.
Visit the Prado and the Reina Sofía with an expert guide
The Museo del Prado and the Reina Sofía are two of Madrid's must-see museums and getting to know them with an expert guide will help you get the most out of them.
How to buy tickets for the Reina Sofía at the ticket office
If you haven't booked your ticket you can go to the ticket office and buy it there for direct access, but you will probably have to wait in line during high season or in the middle of the day. You won't save much by buying your ticket at the ticket office, but if you are going to do it, it's better to go first thing in the morning so you can visit the museum with more peace and quiet and less tourists.
What works to see at the Reina Sofía
The differences between contemporary art and classical art are notable: classical art tells a story or a point of view framed within a historical and cultural context. Contemporary art is different: it seeks experimentation, rupture and emotion. This does not mean that 20th century works do not have a context behind them; they do, and they also have a series of influences. For this reason, I recommend you go to the Reina Sofía knowing the following:
Picasso's Guernica
It is the museum's most famous work and one of the most famous of the 20th century. This enormous canvas occupies a room in the museum and with its dimensions you can appreciate in detail the historical episode it represents. It is interesting to note how the cubist technique and the black and white manage to convey a high emotional charge. If you use the audio guide, you can set aside about twenty minutes for a commentary on this painting, as it presents many of the characters and elements of the canvas.
The Open Window by Juan Gris
The author of this work is considered one of the great masters of Cubism. He coincided with Pablo Picasso in Paris and it was there that he developed this technique with the variant of combining different elements on the canvas to give the final sensation of collage. This work is a good example of this.
Joan Miró's House with a Palm Tree
We usually associate Miró with surrealism, but this work shows that this is not the only artistic period through which the artist passed. The House with the Palm Tree belongs to one of his earliest periods, when he decided to become a painter while recovering from a serious illness. Although it is an ordinary landscape, a certain dreamlike air can be perceived in it that would later lead to surrealism.
Girl at the Window by Salvador Dalí
Dalí also had other more conceptual stages before plunging fully into Surrealism, and this supposed portrait of his sister is an example of this. He painted the picture during his formative years when he was still developing his technique, and to this day it is still one of the most admired of his oeuvre.
Francis Picabia's Totalisator
In the 20th century, machines and technology had an important presence in art. Picabia, after having experimented with Dadaism, applied the idea of mechanisation to the sexual act in this work, using circular forms.
A World of Holy Angels
Avant-garde art was also dominated by men, which is why this artist was until recently unknown. This three-metre high by three-metre wide canvas is the result of the intuition of its author, who, due to her condition, was not as familiar with the new artistic currents as her male colleagues, who were perfectly integrated into the artistic circuit. To paint this picture, the author said she was inspired by some verses by Juan Ramón Jiménez.
The Great Masturbator by Salvador Dalí
This is one of the best-known paintings by Dalí, who was fiercely criticised by his contemporaries for refusing to fight in the Spanish Civil War and for staying in the country afterwards during the Franco dictatorship. However, Dalí's genius was recognised by all. This work is intended to reflect the transformation that the appearance of his lover Gala meant for a painter who was always obsessed with sexuality or sanity.
Joan Miró's Painting (Snail, Woman, Flower, Star)
In this painting we can recognise more of the surrealist profile we associate with Miró. The joyfulness of his earlier paintings gives way in this canvas to the drama and anguish experienced during a period when fascism was on the rise throughout Europe and Spain was preparing for civil war.
Characters leaving a rock concert by Guillermo Pérez Villalta
Who hasn't heard of the Madrid movida? The painting by this artist from Cádiz is a tribute to this period. With a technique closer to narrative, he incorporates figurative strokes in this work in which he represents different stereotypes or characters from the Madrid nightlife.
Woman in Blue by Pablo Picasso
Picasso is best known for Cubism, but we often forget that there were other periods in the artist's life. This painting, for example, belongs to his so-called blue period, marked by the pain in which the artist was plunged after the suicide of a friend and characterised by the use of this tone in his paintings.
How to get to the Reina Sofía
The museum is located opposite Atocha station. The main entrance is in the square renamed "Juan Goytisolo", but few people know it by that name. The easiest way to get there is by metro. If you get off at the Estación del Arte metro station, you can get there by going straight on from the exit and turning right a few metres further on.
The surroundings of the Reina Sofía
The museum is located in one of the most central areas of Madrid, so you will find the area very lively. I recommend that you look for Calle Argumosa, where you can enjoy a few beers in any of its pleasant terraces in the traditional neighbourhood of Lavapiés.
Organise your visit to the Reina Sofía Museum
When to go
The Reina Sofía Museum is closed on Tuesdays. On Sundays it is open from 10am to 2.30pm and on other days it opens at 10am and closes at 9pm. As the free opening hours start at 7pm in the evenings, it tends to be much more crowded, so it is best to go early in the morning on any weekday. You'll need about two hours to see the museum, so if you're taking advantage of the free opening hours, get there around 6 or 6.30pm to get in the queue.
Audioguide
The audio guide costs around 4.50 euros, reduced for students and groups. I recommend a first visit to the museum without it to enjoy the works in general and see what each one conveys to you without being conditioned by their context. On a second visit you can revisit the works that have had the greatest impact on you and put them in context with the information provided by the audio guide. You'll be in for more than one surprise.
Where to eat
There are several places to eat in the area around the museum. One of the most legendary is El Brillante, a bar where you'll be served the famous squid sandwich for which Madrid is famous. However, the prices are quite high, so I recommend any other restaurant in the area; you are spoilt for choice. If you finish seeing the museum at brunch time, the museum restaurant, Nubel, is a very nice place where the brunch is very good.
Go to the Reina Sofía with children
The museum has different activities to bring the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions closer to children. Before visiting, find out how you can make the visit more accessible to the little ones at home, as there are also guides in the museum shop to help you with this task.
Other interesting museums
If you are still hungry for more, don't miss a visit to the Prado Museum. Located just a few metres from the Reina Sofía, the Prado is a cultural jewel that art lovers should not miss. I tell you how in my article on Prado Museum in Madrid Tickets and Tours.
Other interesting activities in Madrid
Madrid is a big city, very well prepared for walking and touring the whole city. That's why I can't recommend you enough to take a guided tour of the city. Well, because of that and because, as you will have already seen, Madrid breathes history in every corner. In this article about Madrid Tours you have all the information you need to choose the best guided tour for your trip.
And if you prefer to rest a bit between walks, you can continue enjoying Madrid aboard its famous tourist bus. Although at first glance it may seem a bit of a 'guiri' option, it is still comfortable and practical to move from one end to the other from the top of the bus. Here you have all the information you need to know: Madrid Hop-On Hop-Off Buses.